Local artist seeks missing painting

Local artist Pat Roberts painted “Love That Live Oak” for a couple from New York.

Special to the Daily News

By LAUREN DELGADO / Daily News

Published: Wednesday, January 16, 2013 at 06:11 PM.

FORT WALTON BEACH — Impressed with the gnarly live oaks that sit sentinel in town, a New York couple asked local artist Pat Roberts to paint one for them.

Roberts drove around photographing her favorite trees so the couple could choose one for their painting. She can’t begin to calculate the number of hours spent on “Love that Live Oak.”

The painting won the grand prize at the Northwest Florida Fair Fine Arts Show last year. Her painting and others from the show went on display at the Fort Walton Beach Library in December.

On Jan. 4, Roberts went to the library to pick up all her work only to discover “Love that Live Oak” was missing.

“I was frantic,” Roberts said. “I went back into the offices and actually hollered at the guy there.”

The person who took the paintings down to return them to the artists said none of art pieces was missing, Roberts said. She has photos of the painting hanging in its place on Dec. 27. The library was closed from Dec. 30 through Jan. 1.

She and Helen Harris, the president of the Arts and Design Society of Fort Walton Beach, searched the entire library for the painting. Eventually, they called the police.

“I was shaking like a leaf and crying,” Roberts said.

The 30-inch by 38-inch painting was appraised at $350, according to the police report. The reported also noted that without new evidence, the case was inactive.

Roberts has started a new painting for the snowbird couple, but said it will be different from the original. She said she’s nervous about displaying her artwork at the library in the future.

“If someone saw anything or knows anything so I could get it back, that would make me very happy,” Roberts said.

Reader comments posted to this article may be published in our print edition. All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published
without permission. Links are encouraged.

FORT WALTON BEACH — Impressed with the gnarly live oaks that sit sentinel in town, a New York couple asked local artist Pat Roberts to paint one for them.

Roberts drove around photographing her favorite trees so the couple could choose one for their painting. She can’t begin to calculate the number of hours spent on “Love that Live Oak.”

The painting won the grand prize at the Northwest Florida Fair Fine Arts Show last year. Her painting and others from the show went on display at the Fort Walton Beach Library in December.

On Jan. 4, Roberts went to the library to pick up all her work only to discover “Love that Live Oak” was missing.

“I was frantic,” Roberts said. “I went back into the offices and actually hollered at the guy there.”

The person who took the paintings down to return them to the artists said none of art pieces was missing, Roberts said. She has photos of the painting hanging in its place on Dec. 27. The library was closed from Dec. 30 through Jan. 1.

She and Helen Harris, the president of the Arts and Design Society of Fort Walton Beach, searched the entire library for the painting. Eventually, they called the police.

“I was shaking like a leaf and crying,” Roberts said.

The 30-inch by 38-inch painting was appraised at $350, according to the police report. The reported also noted that without new evidence, the case was inactive.

Roberts has started a new painting for the snowbird couple, but said it will be different from the original. She said she’s nervous about displaying her artwork at the library in the future.

“If someone saw anything or knows anything so I could get it back, that would make me very happy,” Roberts said.